A Scintilla of Hope
by Gold That Glistens
Summary: Remus's story of his life in Hogwarts. Slash. (Wolfstar)
1. Chapter 1

_**September 1st, 1971:**_ _ **Platform 9 3/4**_

Platform 9 3/4 was bursting with people. Screaming children, screeching owls, and scolding parents all created a joyous cacophony.

Remus Lupin felt his father's hand squeeze his shoulder. He grinned excitedly up at Lyall Lupin who returned his grin somewhat less enthusiastically.

"It's good to be back at Platfrom 9 3/4," sighed Lyall, not quite managing to keep the worry out of his voice.

"He'll be fine, Lyall" said Hope Lupin. She turned to smother Remus in a hug. "Remus is always good, isn't he? I can't believe my little baby is going off to school!"

"Mum!" cried Remus as she gave him a flurry of kisses on his cheek. "We're in _public."_ He smiled at her to make sure she knew that he was joking.

"Ok, sweetums. I'll stop embarrassing you," she pinched his cheek playfully. Lyall smiled fondly at both of them and rubbed Remus's back. Remus was secretly glad they were being so affectionate. It helped quell the queasy feeling in his stomach. This was his chance; his chance to make friends, to learn magic, and to enter a new world. Thanks to Albus Dumbledore, he would be able to interact with people his age! But then again, what if they hated him?

"Better get your trunk on the train!" called Lyall. He helped Remus drag his heavy trunk up the steps. Remus looked back at his parents.

"We'll write," promised Lyall. "As often as you would like."

"Which means everyday, right Remus?" teased Hope, pinching his cheek again.

"Study hard," said Lyall. "Be careful."

Remus nodded and smiled at both of them. "Love you both!" he whispered suddenly feeling extremely sad at leaving both of his parents.

"Love you, too," his parents called. Hope blew kisses at him.

He dragged his trunk into an empty compartment and waved at the beaming faces of his parents as the train departed the station.

8888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

 _ **September 1st, 1971: Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry**_

"GRIFFINDOR!" the hat shouted on Remus's head.

He walked in a daze over to the table that exploded with cheers. He sat next to a boy with long black hair who was slouching in his seat looking thoroughly moody. Remus was shocked. He had been sure he would have been in Slytherin, being a dark creature and all, but he was in _Griffindor._ The house of the brave and daring! (Though he didn't feel so daring. He felt extremely shy and awkward.) He couldn't wait to write to his parents.

The Sorting had finished and Dumbledore stood up, "I would like to welcome our new students! I encourage them to stuff their heads with much knowledge and magic, so perhaps more would be retained during the long summer break. I must say, here at Hogwarts, all are of equal worth, no matter what background or family they might come from." He paused to beam at his students. Remus could have sworn Dumbledore's eyes gave an extra twinkle to him and the long haired boy sitting next to him. "I won't deprive you from your meal any longer. Dig in and masticate thoroughly!"

Food appeared on the golden plates. Remus happily took portions of all that was available. He had forgotten how hungry he had become.

The long-haired boy was in conversation with a boy with extremely messy hair.

"So you didn't get put into Slytherin after all!" exclaimed the boy with messy hair. "Brilliant."

The long haired boy grinned sheepishly, "My parents are going to be barking mad thought. Ruining the ancient Black house tradition and all."

"Ah well. At least you're in the best house. Look where little Snivillous ended up," the messy haired boy gestured towards the Slytherin table.

At his words, a red haired girl abruptly stood up, gave him a disgusted look and moved to the end of the table.

"Wonder what got her so worked up about him," mused the long haired boy. "That greasy little git." The other boy gave a snort of laughter.

Remus frowned at their words. He wondered what the "Snivillous" person had done to them to get them so riled up about him.

He was enjoying a particularly delicious piece of treacle tart when he heard, "Hey mate!" He looked up at the messy haired boy.

"You a first year too? My name's James Potter and this is Sirius Black," James nodded towards the long haired boy.

Remus swallowed his tart. "Remus Lupin," he smiled shyly.

"Remus, cool name," commented James. "Play any quidditch?"

Remus smiled and shook his head.

"What?! No quidditch? Muggle-born then?" James asked.

"My mom's a muggle and my dad's a wizard. We moved around a lot, so I didn't get a chance to be up to date on Quidditch," said Remus.

"Aww man. We'll have to educate you then," he gestured towards Sirius.

James and Sirius spent the rest of dinner filling him in on the best Quidditch teams and players. Remus observed them happily chatting away. James was good-looking in a next-door-neighbor type a way, but even at his young age Sirius was stunning. They both seemed nice enough.

Then thoroughly stuffed and satiated, they sleepily followed a tall gangly prefect to their dorm rooms, where they immediately collapsed on their four-poster beds.

Remus smiled to himself and thought of James and Sirius. He might even be friends with them. And with that wonderful thought, he snuggled into the white sheets and drifted into a dreamless sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**September 5th, 1971: Hogwarts**

For the first time in his life Remus was having _fun_.

Remus had immensely enjoyed the first few days of school. Remus already knew a few basic spells from Lyall, who had homeschooled Remus, but it was much more exciting to by taught by someone other than his dad. Remus particularly liked Transfiguration with sharp (both in manner and mind) Prof. McGonagall. However, most of all, Remus loved his new friends, James and Sirius. James and Sirius laughed loudly, cracked jokes, and left a trail of havoc behind them that seemed to result in everyone laughing their heads off. And the best part was that Remus was included in all their frivolous fun making. They consulted him about everything from pranks to homework. Remus was their friend.

It was a Sunday afternoon, and Remus, James, and Sirius were relaxing in the Gryffindor Common Room. It was going to be a full moon that night. Remus knew that when it was seven o'clock he would have to go meet Madam Pomfrey. He was slightly worried; it would be his first time transforming without his parents present. He pushed out his unpleasant thoughts at the moment and just contented himself with enjoying the present. He was pretending to read a rather dusty and stinky tome he had borrowed from the library, but he was actually watching Sirius and James play a game of Gobstones. Or rather was watching James dramatically lose to Sirius.

"YEAH!" Sirius shouted as a putrid stream of liquid shot James in the face.

"Ugh. Nasty," James wiped another layer of goo off of his face.

"Remus, you want to have a go? I'm tired of beating James," asked Sirius snorting with laughter at James's misfortune.

"Hey!" yelled James indignantly "Go on, Remus. Play a game! I think Sirius charmed these Gobstones, the cheating little bugger he is."

Siruis threw his hands on his heart dramatically. "Cheating little bugger?" he asked, pretending to be distraught. "You're thinking of my family."

Remus scooted towards Sirius, "I'll play a game or two."

"You could use a game or two. You've been awfully quiet since you told us you had to visit your sick aunt tonight."

Remus shrugged and blushed. He was bad at lying and felt bad lying, and consequently had decided the best action was to be quiet. He hadn't realized that Sirius and James would notice.

"I'm alright," he responded.

"Right, then," cried Sirus, clapping Remus on the back. "Turn and face...the Gobstone King!"

"You wish," Remus snorted, grinning at Sirius. "Let the games begin."

Remus then proceeded to beat Sirius in three consecutive games of Gobstones. He pretended not to be affected by James's admiring whoops, and Siruis's look of reverence, but he could feel the blush spilling out from his ears onto his face.

"When did you get to be so good?" asked Siruis with a look of awe.

Remus shrugged. "Long days of not doing much, I guess."

"Why? Were you sick or something?" asked James.

 _Or something,_ thinks Remus. "I didn't have that many friends," he mumbled at his lap. He felt as though his head might burst into flames for how red his face turned.

"Well, you got some now, mate," said James swinging an arm around Remus.

"Yeah, and now you can beat our arse in Gobstones," said Siruis punching lightly Remus in the arm. "You could probably beat everyone in the Hogwarts. 'Cept perhaps Dumblydore."

"I beat Professor Dumbledore once," said Remus.

"What?" exclaimed James pretending to fall over in shock and Sirius whistled his approval. "Do tell."

"It was the day he came to my house to tell me I got into Hogwarts. It was the best day of my life," said Remus.

"That's brilliant, mate" said James admiringly. "But why did Dumblydore come to tell you about Hogwarts? Isn't your dad a wizard?"

 _Shoot,_ Remus thought. _Stay cool, Remus. They don't suspect anything._ "They thought I might not have enough magic to attend. Professor Dumbledore came to assure them I did."

"Well, boy were they wrong. You are probably the best in DADA." Sirius clapped a hand on Remus's back. "Our brainy little Lupin."

Remus laughed. "I'm taller than you and you know it."

"He got you there," sniggered James. Sirius thumped James on the head.

While Sirius and James threw themselves into an exaggerated fist fight, Remus noticed a small chubby boy with watery eyes sitting alone on a couch watching them rather wistfully. The boy was one of the other roommates of Remus, James and Sirius. The boy looked rather sad and alone on the big couch with no one besides him. Remus felt his heart pang and couldn't help thinking that he would have been like that if he hadn't had the fortune to be befriended by Sirius and James. Remus couldn't remember his name. Paul? Percy? Pete? Peter, that was it. Remus recalled the boy sitting for nearly five minutes with the Sorting Hat before finally being sorted into Gryffindor.

"Err. Peter?" Remus asked tentatively scooting around the James and Sirius's wrestling match. The boy shrunk back into the couch looking terrified at the mention of his name. His eyes darted around the room as if looking for an escape. "Want to play a game of Gobstones with me?" Peter nodded and joined Remus. Peter still looked quite petrified.

Sirius and James stopped their wrestling match to stare at Peter.

"Who is this?" asked Sirius. For a second, Remus thought Sirius was going to say something cruel. Remus's stomach clenched.

"Peter Pettigrew," responded Remus quickly. To his relief, Sirius glanced at Peter briefly before turning back to punch James in the shoulder when James was distracted.

"That's pretty cruel, mate," laughed James flicking Sirius's arm. "Getting me when I was looking away and all."

James turned to Peter. "So, d'you play any quidditch?" he asked Peter.

And with that, Peter was integrated into their group of three. The four boys continued to bicker and banter until Remus the time came to "visit his aunt."

When Remus was led by Madam Pomfrey to the house were he would undergo transformations, he attempted to comitt every detail of his day to memory. While the memory of his good day won't make his transformation any less painful, not even the wolf could prevent the blissful smile on Remus's face when thinking of his friends.


	3. Chapter 3

_**October 31, 1971: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Great Hall**_

The Great Hall looked unusually sinister with its customary Halloween decorations. Huge grinning pumpkins floated eerily in midair. Bats screeched and chittered about the tables. Candles danced and flickered above the students, throwing the hall into ever shifting shadows.

Then a toilet seat flew through the air making a sound suspiciously similar to excessive flatulence. Another toilet seat joined the first, and before long, a hoard of toilet seats were flying around the air. Most toilet seats seemed especially attracted to the Slytherin table, swooping closer and closer to the screaming Slytherins, as the farting noises grew exponentially louder and louder.

As the Great Hall broke into pandemonium, Remus watched James and Sirius duck under the table to laugh, their eyes streaming with mirth. Peter chuckled nervously, looking admiringly at James and Sirius.

Remus sighed. "Really? Flying toilet seats? What are you, four years old?" Remus tried to mold his face into a disapproving mask, but couldn't keep the smile off his face.

James came out from under the table, wiping his eyes. "And what are you, Remy, eighty years old? You gave us to the spell needed for this prank; you knew what you were in for, old man." James playfully punched Remus in the shoulder.

Sirius popped up next to Remus. "We can all see the smile on your face, mate. Admit it. We are _hilarious_ ," said Sirius with another chuckle, throwing an arm around Remus. "It's ok to have a little fun now and then, Remus."

Remus smiled and put his arm around Sirius in return as they trudged up the stairs to the common room. James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter had spent a few hours in the library searching for the perfect spell to complete their prank. Remus had found most of the spells needed for the prank, but refused to participate in charming the toilet seats. He felt bad playing a prank; Dumbledore had given him the opportunity of a lifetime to attend Hogwarts, and Remus did not want to pay Dumbledore back by causing trouble within Hogwarts.

When they arrived back at the Gryffindor common room, they were greeted with loud applause. Remus felt his heart swoop. The entire Gryffindor house was clapping for them, for _first years._

"Excellent. Just excellent," laughed a fifth year, holding her sides as she giggled like mad.

"Did you see the Slytherins' faces? I almost peed my pants," said one large second year.

Sirius and James took many dramatic bows. Remus laughed at their extravagant behavior as Peter grinned at James and Sirius.

"Our pleasure," James said. He grinned and winked at a red haired girl in the corner of the room, who glared back.

Sirius pulled Remus towards him. "Couldn't have done it with Remus here. Brilliant, he is." He ruffled Remus's hair. Remus felt a warmth sweep through him as Sirius pulled him into a one armed brotherly embrace.

"Absolutely brilliant, mate," congratulated a seventh year shaking Remus's hand and Remus turned a bright red. Remus was shocked that the seventh year even spoke to him, none the less congratulated him.

" _JAMES POTTER. SIRIUS BLACK_ ," came a sharp voice at the entrance of the Gryffindor common room.

Remus watched the grins slip off James and Sirius's faces to be replaced with a deathly white complexion.

"You have detention at 9:30 tonight. Since you seem to have a certain fascination with certain fixtures in the lavatory, you shall spend your detention cleaning them _the muggle way."_ McGonagall's face was pinched and her lips were drawn into a thin line as she stalked towards James and Sirius, who had begun backing up.

James gasped. "But professor-"

"No, Mr. Potter. I will not hear any excuses you have to make. Make sure both of you are there tonight," McGonagall snapped.

"But Professor, we did it for you!" Sirius cried throwing his hands to his heart dramatically. "We saw how Slughorn was gloating over winning the House Cup last year. And we wanted to make sure Slytherins deflate their heads a bit!"

"Yeah!" added James. "And we were so impressed and inspired by the magic we learned, that we just _had_ to try it out. And what better way to practice magic than to show the Slythernins who really is the best house in Hogwarts?"

McGonagoll turned and gave both of them a disbelieving look. "Mr. Black. If you wanted us to win the House Cup, you could refrain from joking and pranking as to not lose house points. And Mr. Potter. I am sure you can find a way to practice your lessens that do not involve flying restroom appliances." Remus could have sworn that he saw a hint of a smile on her face before she turned to depart.

888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

 _ **9:30, October 31, 1971: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the Boys Restroom on the Fifth Floor**_

"This is bloody awful," moaned Sirius as he frantically scrubbed a toilet. "I bet Slytherins did their business in here. It would account for the smell."

"Yeah, Gryffindor's don't smell bad at all," sighed James attacking his toilet with a renewed vigor.

Remus snorted from his position far away from the toilets; he was leaning against the edge of the wall reading _Magical Drafts and Potions_ by Arsenius Jigger for a potions essay. Remus and Peter had joined James and Sirius in the bathroom for moral support as James and Sirius completed their detention.

"It's true!" protested James. "Gryffindors smell better than Slytherins. It's part of being brave with honor. The smell of the toilets is just horrid, so it must be Slytherins."

Peter nodded in agreement, and for a while all that could be heard was the sound of brushes on white porcelain.

Sirius broke the silence. "What did McGonagall call us today?" asked Sirius. "It sounded kind of cool."

James shrugged and scratched his nose, and immediately made a face, for his hand smelled strongly of public toilet.

"Which insult? There were so many," said Remus turning the page in his book as Sirius laughed.

"A disgrace to Gryffindor house? A blotch on the respectable traditions of Hogwarts, whose Great Hall had never been defiled by flying toilet seats? A scheming band of marauders, pilfering responsibility and maturity from the hearts of students?" James suggested.

"That last one. The marauders," smiled Sirius. "Sounds like the name of a band or something. What does it mean?"

"I dunno. Remus, what does it mean?" asked James. Sirius, James, and Peter turned expectantly to Remus.

"Marauders are a bit like robbers, I think," said Remus looking up from his book. He was secretly pleased that James and Sirius turned to him when they didn't know something, but also slightly ashamed at himself for thinking so highly of himself.

"I kind of like that," said James. "We are The Mauraders. Wreaking havoc in Hogwarts in the name of hilarity. Brothers and friends till death."

"Yeah, maybe we should start a band or something," Sirius pretended to strum a chord on his toilet cleaning brush. "Dun dunn dundundun daaaaa."

"The Marauders," echoed Remus. "It has a nice ring to it." Peter nodded his approval.

And though they fortunately never started a band, the name Marauders stuck. The group of four referred to themselves as the Mauraders when planning dastardly deeds or revenge on Snape, which was practically every second of their life.

And Remus was especially proud to be a Maurader; besides the side effects of detention and occasional magical mishap, for the first time, he felt as though he belonged.


End file.
